It is typical for a particular store to have a spend-and-get incentive program in which a program card is given to a consumer. One example of a spend-and-get incentive program is where each time a consumer makes a purchase at that store, either any purchase or the purchase of a specific product, a salesperson punches a hole in the card. After a given number of holes have been punched, the card can be redeemed for a reward, such as a free product. This type of incentive program requires that the consumer bring the card into the store each time a purchase is made and requires that the consumer remembers to present the card to the salesperson. In addition, this program is limited to a particular store or a chain of stores.
A punch card incentive program is not easily implemented when the manufacturer of a product desires to reward consumers who buy a given quantity of that product regardless of the store or stores at which the purchases occur. For that type of reward the consumer usually has to remove a proof of purchase indicium from each product and mail the indicia along with a redemption form to the manufacturer or a clearing house representing the manufacturer. Several weeks later, the consumer then receives a reward in the mail, such as merchandise, a rebate bank check, or a rebate coupon. A rebate coupon must be taken to a store for redemption.
Consumers often pay merchants for goods and services using a payment card account associated with a payment processing system, such as those systems under the general operation of various well-known ‘credit card companies’, for instance, American Express®, Diner's Club®, Discover Card, etc Visa®, etc. For example, the account may be part of a credit card program, a debit card program, a flexible spending account (FSA) program, or a commercial card program having predetermined goods or services for which the account can be used, and/or a loyalty program some of which have having credit limits and other use restrictions. These processing systems handle transactions occurring at a large number of merchants located around the world.
The transaction with a merchant begins with the consumer presenting account information, such as a credit card account number, to the merchant to initiate payment for a product or service. The merchant communicates within the payment processing system to exchange transaction data, such as the account number, merchant identification code, and transaction value, in order to have the payment card transaction authorized, cleared, and settled. The data are exchanged over a communication network in one or more messages that may have predefined formats.
Some account holders in these payment processing systems can be rewarded based on the monetary amounts of their purchases. For example, for every dollar spent, an account holder may receive points redeemable for airline tickets and other goods and services. Other account holders may receive a percentage of the aggregate purchase amounts as a rebate credit to the account. Nevertheless, conventional payment processing systems heretofore were not easily adaptable for spend-and-get incentive programs involving unaffiliated stores and specific name brand products.